Trivia

Became the first pre-operative transsexual model to pose nude for the Brazilian edition of Playboy.

Challenged the Brazilian legal statutes that prevented her from using her preferred name, Luíza Gambine Moreira, or declaring her sex as female on official documents. She took her case to the Brazilian Supreme Court, which, in 1997, ruled against her. In 1999, she was arrested for using a passport with her proscribed identity.

In 1985, she had her first major film role in the comedy "Si tu vas a Rio . . . tu muers," which launched her to celebrity status in Brazil.

Lives in Switzerland (1997)

She and Swiss businessman husband Roland Granacher separated after seven years of marriage, reportedly as a result of Close's highly publicized romantic exploits with other celebrities.

Acquired the pseudonym Roberta Close after having gained talent agency representation.

Although content being transgender, she was pressured by her agency and others to have a sex-change surgery, and her reassignment surgery was performed in London at Charing Cross Clinic in 1989. After her recovery, she appeared in an extensive photo spread in the Brazilian men's magazine "Sexy", and was subsequently voted by readers "Most Beautiful Woman in Brazil.".

At eighteen, Moreira reported for military conscription wearing a dress. She was exempted, but her father, an officer in the army, disowned her as a result.